An efficient manufacturing or storage facility for flat board-like elements of predetermined thickness, such as printed circuit boards, requires an efficient material handling system for transporting the boards between various work stations and for storing the elements between work stations. Such a material handling system, heretofore unavailable, must provide fast, easy manual handling of the elements and must have a capability for handling elements of various sizes. Furthermore, such a system should require no special attachments for the elements or require any modification of the elements and must provide for compact storage of the elements in a readily available space. In addition, such a system should have a capability for interfacing with mechanical element loaders and unloaders but must also be readily manually loadable and unloadable. It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a system of the above described type which accomplishes the above described objectives.